This invention relates to guns such as large caliber guns as well as firearms that may be automatic or semiautomatic that may include recoil mechanisms, firing mechanisms, safety devices, replaceable barrels and the other elements associated with guns. The new device may include a gas recoil mechanism, a firing mechanism without a hammer, a bolt safety mechanism, one or more safety trigger devices, a replaceable barrel and handle mechanism as well as the other elements associated with a gun.
Efforts to design an improved, practical and reliable automatic loading gun or firearm generally have made guns that may be temporarily unstable due to the effects of the firing recoil, or have inadequately considered the effects of recoil when designing the gun or cannon. Most known automatic or semiautomatic weapons, regardless of the caliber, that are in commercial use have a gas operated bolt release or a simple heavy spring recoil that operates the recoil through the discharge of the high pressure gasses or inertia created through the explosion of the round in the barrel.
The high pressure gases that may be produced inside the barrel of a weapon after the round is detonated and during the fraction of a second that the projectile is escaping through the barrel, or through the force of the explosion, force the spent cartridge to push the bolt towards the rear of the weapon. Usually a standard simple spring may be used to slow the bolt down and start to force the bolt back forward again to engage another round to load the weapon and complete the cycle. Many weapons may use a small tube to collect the spent high pressure gasses from the barrel, which in turn unlock and then blow-back the bolt toward the rear of the weapon to begin the recoil cycle.
The terms automatic, semiautomatic or full automatic loading generally denote a firearm that when fired automatically ejects the spent round, cartridge, or shell and then loads a fresh round from a magazine. This may include semiautomatic as well as full automatic firing modes of operation. Recoil may affect all firearms to some degree, but the relatively heavy recoil, especially with large caliber rounds, of current weapon designs is recognized and compensated for by most shooters or operators. Particularly in larger-gauge weapons, recoil may cause discomfort, loss of aiming accuracy and, in the case of automatic loading weapons, prevent effectively tracking a target with repeated fire, especially at long range while using a telescope.
The undesirable effects of heavy recoil are particularly troublesome when designing and using weapons intended for full automatic fire, often designated as assault weapons. This may also be a problem for sniper weapons. Law enforcement and military agencies have long sought and desired the close and long range intimidating effects of a universal weapon that may be capable of selective semiautomatic and full automatic firing, but that may have quick reliable repeated reloading and low recoil effect.
Existing weapons generally include some form of a hammer mechanism for activating the firing pin. The designs generally use the energy of the rearward motion of the bolt or other mechanism to cock the hammer or like apparatus. Using a weapon that does not require a hammer may reduce the amount of weapon motion caused when the trigger is pulled. A firearm may be fired from a closed bolt position such that when the operator pulls the trigger there may be no movement in the firearm other than the firing pin motion until the firing pin strikes directly against the round. This may eliminate the presently known trigger designs that may release a hammer that then strikes the firing pin that hits the primer of the round. Eliminating the hammer may eliminate one extra movement and thereby one less chance the operator may miss the target.
Existing guns may include trigger safety devices to prevent inadvertent firing as well as mechanisms to fire in semiautomatic or automatic modes of operation. There may also be mechanisms to prevent the firing pin from striking a round in the firing chamber as a safety precaution. Further, guns may have provision for replacement of the barrel in a relative efficient disconnect manner.
The present invention is directed to guns for semiautomatic or automatic firing. The gun may have a receiver element with a barrel extending forwardly from the receiver element with the barrel having a chamber end and a discharge end. A handle element may be attached to the receiver element and a trigger assembly may be integrated with the handle element. The receiver element may have a bolt carrier chamber formed therein and a bolt carrier assembly slidably disposed in the bolt carrier chamber. The bolt carrier chamber at a rearward portion thereof and the bolt carrier assembly may define a gas chamber. A bolt assembly may be slidably disposed in the bolt carrier assembly. An actuator may be slidably engaged with the receiver element and the actuator may be engagable with the bolt carrier assembly and the bolt assembly. A firing pin assembly may be slidably disposed in said bolt assembly and may have a firing assembly in communication with said trigger assembly. An ammunition source may be attachable to the receiver element and a foregrip handle may be attachable to the gun. The gun may have an adjustable gas pressure assembly, a barrel locking mechanism and a barrel engagement assembly.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.